Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Are the Golden State Warriors Taking Over the World?

"Draymond Green is a beast!" C tells me as he grumpily gets up before school.

"Did you see Stephen Curry's fall? It looked like he got killed!" G tells me as he walks downstairs before school. "One of the Splash Brothers went down."

"Is LeBron James still playing basketball?" DLG asks me. Wrong team, I know, but she is still excited for the NBA playoffs. Even if she doesn't know who is playing or what we're talking about.

"Do you know where my pocketbook is" Mom asks me. She not worried about the NBA Playoffs, unfortunately.

Beast Mode

The Golden State Warriors are taking over the world! C and I were listening to Game 4 on the radio on our way home from baseball Monday night. Even though the Warriors played terribly, particularly in the First Quarter of Game 4, Curry was still raining threes. Draymond Green was still hauling down rebounds. Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson started amping up the defense after horrendous First Quarter. Curry hits a couple of threes and C actually perked up. It didn't matter that James Harden was on fire shooting and driving to the basket.

"He's a monster! Did you see that?" No. I am a part of the "We Believe" group though.

G can name everyone on the team, including Andrew Bogut and Leandro Barbosa. After 67 wins, dominant, if not exciting, playoffs series wins, the Warriors are on the verge of the NBA Finals for the first time since the age of World B. Free. The boys can't wait for the series to be over so the Lebronnies and the Warriors can play for all of the marbles. If I could go to Oracle Arena tomorrow, I would.

But the Warriors' phenomenon is different. In the age of Social Media, Curry and the Splash Brothers are an easy sell. The Warriors play the pace and space game and kids hauling up 3s glom onto like flies on honey. They even call themselves splash. Do they realize that we live in Boston Celtics' country? It also has a lot to do with the front runner status. Kids like winners more than anything else. And because the backlash by adults (and the kids who write sports columns) hasn't started yet (Hello LeBron!), the Warriors are the new home team. Just like the Cowboys and the Steelers were the "home" team back when I was growing up in the 1970's.

It's human nature for a likable group to start taking over the world. better them than ISIS, I suppose.

Oh yeah, I like the NBA Finals ad music. Can't wait to listen to more of it.